Virtual receptionist via videoconferencing

ABSTRACT

One disclosed example system includes a reception room meeting device configured for establishing a video conference with a device associated with a remote receptionist. The reception room meeting device sends a request for a video meeting with one of a plurality of candidate remote receptionists in response to receiving an activation signal triggered by a visitor to a reception area, and establishes the video meeting with a device associated with one remote receptionist selected based on the request. The system further includes a virtual receptionist system configured to access visitor data obtained by various input devices at the reception area, and determine the status of the visitor based on the visitor data. The virtual receptionist system further transmits the status of the visitor to the device associated with the selected remote receptionist to facilitate the check-in process.

FIELD

The present application generally relates to technologies for enablingvirtual receptionist and more particularly relates to systems andmethods for enabling virtual receptionist through videoconferencing.

BACKGROUND

Videoconferencing has become a common way for people to meet withoutbeing at the same physical location. Participants can join a videoconference from various devices, such as a dedicated video conferencedevice, a personal computer, a smartphone, and so on. Through the videoconference, participants are able to see and hear each other andconverse largely as they would during an in-person meeting or event.

SUMMARY

Various examples are described for systems and methods for enablingvirtual receptionist through videoconferencing. One example methodincludes receiving, by a video conference provider from a reception roommeeting device, a request for a meeting with a remote receptionist;determining, by the video conference provider and based on request dataassociated with the request, one or more qualified remote receptionistsfrom a plurality of candidate remote receptionists, wherein the requestdata specifies the plurality of candidate remote receptionists andcomprises an indication of a preference setting for the meeting;sending, by the video conference provider, a meeting request to a deviceassociated with a first qualified remote receptionist that is availablefor the meeting; and establishing, by the video conference provider andin response to the qualified remote receptionist accepting the meetingrequest, a video conference between the reception room meeting deviceand the device associated with the first qualified remote receptionist.

In another example, a system includes a reception room meeting deviceconfigured for establishing a video conference with a device associatedwith a remote receptionist by sending, to a video conference provider, ameeting request for a video meeting with one of a plurality of candidateremote receptionists in response to receiving an activation signaltriggered by a visitor; and establishing the video meeting with a deviceassociated with a remote receptionist available to assist the visitorout of the plurality of candidate remote receptionists selected by thevideo conference provider based on the meeting request. The systemfurther includes one or more input devices configured for obtaining dataassociated with the visitor; and one or more computing devicescomprising one or more processors and non-transitory computer-readablemedia communicatively coupled to the one or more processors and storingprocessor-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or moreprocessors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations. Theoperations include accessing the data associated with the visitorobtained by the one or more input devices; determining a status of thevisitor based on the data associated with the visitor, the status of thevisitor comprising an authenticity status or a physical status; andtransmitting the status of the visitor to the device associated with theavailable remote receptionist.

Another example system includes a reception room meeting deviceconfigured for establishing a video conference with a device associatedwith a remote receptionist by sending a request for a video meeting withone of a plurality of candidate remote receptionists in response toreceiving an activation signal triggered by a visitor, and establishingthe video meeting with a device associated with a remote receptionist ofthe plurality of candidate remote receptionists selected based on therequest. The system further includes one or more computing devicescomprising one or more processors and non-transitory computer-readablemedia communicatively coupled to the one or more processors and storingprocessor-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or moreprocessors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations. Theoperations comprise receiving, from the reception room meeting deviceamong a plurality of reception room meeting devices, the request for thevideo meeting; determining, based on request data associated with therequest, a qualified remote receptionist from the plurality of candidateremote receptionists, wherein the request data specifies the pluralityof candidate remote receptionists; and causing a video meeting betweenthe reception room meeting device and a device associated with thequalified remote receptionist to be initiated by sending, to a videoconference provider, a meeting request for the video meeting.

These illustrative examples are mentioned not to limit or define thescope of this disclosure, but rather to provide examples to aidunderstanding thereof. Illustrative examples are discussed in theDetailed Description, which provides further description. Advantagesoffered by various examples may be further understood by examining thisspecification.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated into and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate one or more certain examples and,together with the description of the example, serve to explain theprinciples and implementations of certain examples.

FIG. 1 shows an example system that provides videoconferencingfunctionality to various client devices, according to certain aspectsdescribed herein.

FIG. 2 shows an example system in which a video conference providerprovides videoconferencing functionality to various client devices,according to certain aspects described herein.

FIG. 3 shows an example of an operating environment for virtualreceptionists through videoconferencing, according to certain aspectsdescribed herein.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a process for establishing a video conferencebetween a reception room meeting device and a receptionist device for avisitor, according to some aspects described herein.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a process for facilitating the check-inprocess of a visitor by a virtual receptionist, according to certainaspects described herein.

FIG. 6 shows an example of a user interface presented on a receptionroom meeting device in a reception area when the video meeting betweenthe reception room meeting device and a receptionist device isestablished, according to certain aspects described herein.

FIG. 7 shows an example computing device suitable for implementingaspects of the techniques and technologies described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Examples are described herein in the context of systems and methods forenabling virtual receptionists through videoconferencing. Those ofordinary skill in the art will realize that the following description isillustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting.Reference will now be made in detail to implementations of examples asillustrated in the accompanying drawings. The same reference indicatorswill be used throughout the drawings and the following description torefer to the same or like items.

In the interest of clarity, not all of the routine features of theexamples described herein are shown and described. It will, of course,be appreciated that in the development of any such actualimplementation, numerous implementation-specific decisions must be madein order to achieve the developer's specific goals, such as compliancewith application- and business-related constraints, and that thesespecific goals will vary from one implementation to another and from onedeveloper to another.

In one example, a virtual reception system includes a reception roommeeting device located in a reception area. The reception room meetingdevice is configured for establishing a video conference with a deviceassociated with a virtual receptionist who is located remotely from thereception area (also referred to herein as a “remote receptionist”). Forinstance, the reception room meeting device sends, in response toreceiving an activation signal, a meeting request for a video meetingwith a virtual receptionist. The activation signal may be generated by,for example, a visitor touching a call button on the reception roommeeting device, standing in front of a camera associated with thereception room meeting device, or scanning his/her identification cardusing an ID scanner in the reception area. The reception room meetingdevice further establishes the video meeting with a device associatedwith a remote receptionist available to assist the visitor. The remotereceptionist is selected out of a list of candidate remotereceptionists.

The meeting request may be processed by a video conference provider or avirtual receptionist system to determine a qualified remote receptionistthat is available to assist the visitor. The meeting request isassociated with request data specifying the list of candidate remotereceptionists. The request data further includes an indication of apreference setting for the meeting, such as a preferred language for themeeting. The video conference provider or the virtual receptionistsystem determines the qualified remote receptionist from the list ofcandidate remote receptionists based on the preference setting for themeeting, and facilitates the establishment of the video meeting betweenthe reception room meeting device and the device associated with thedetermined remote receptionist. Once the meeting is established, thevisitor is able to communicate with the remote receptionist through thevideo conference.

The virtual reception system further includes one or more input devicesconfigured for obtaining data associated with the visitor. The inputdevices may include a scanner (e.g., to scan the visitor's ID), a chipreader (e.g., to read the visitor's information through reading a chipon a device carried by the visitor), a temperature sensor (to measurethe body temperature of the visitor), or an image sensor (e.g., todetect the face of the visitor). The data associated with the visitor iscollected, for example by the virtual receptionist system, to determinethe status of the visitor, including an authenticity status or aphysical status. The status of the visitor is transmitted to the deviceassociated with the determined remote receptionist to facilitate thecheck-in process by the remote receptionist.

The virtual reception system further includes one or more output devicescontrollable by the device associate with the remote receptionist. Theseoutput devices are configured for presenting information to the visitor(e.g., a display device for presenting a map) or generating documentsfor the visitor (e.g., a badge printer, a parking ticket printer, or ageneral printer). The remote receptionist can instruct the outputdevices, either directly or through the virtual receptionist system, topresent information or produce documents as needed.

By using the virtual receptionist technique presented herein, theoverall efficiency of the reception system can be improved. For example,by enabling various systems (e.g., the video conference provider, thevirtual receptionist system, the receptionist device, the reception roommeeting device, and various input and output devices in the receptionarea) to communicate with each other to exchange information and data,the virtual receptionist technique presented herein allows a smallernumber of virtual receptionists to support a larger number of receptionareas. In addition, a virtual receptionist that is more suitable for aparticular visitor (e.g., speaks the same language as the visitor) canbe selected to handle the check-in process of the visitor. Further, byallowing the list of candidate virtual receptionists to be configuredfor a reception room meeting device, the virtual receptionist whohandles the visitors to the reception area is limited to this known listthereby ensuring a proper virtual receptionist is selected whenassisting the visitors to this reception area.

This illustrative example is given to introduce the reader to thegeneral subject matter discussed herein and the disclosure is notlimited to this example. The following sections describe variousadditional non-limiting examples and examples of systems and methods forsecurely recording and retrieving encrypted video conferences.

Referring now to FIG. 1, FIG. 1 shows an example system 100 thatprovides videoconferencing functionality to various client devices. Thesystem 100 includes a video conference provider 110 that is connected tomultiple communication networks 120, 130, through which various clientdevices 140-180 can participate in video conferences hosted by the videoconference provider 110. For example, the video conference provider 110can be located within a private network to provide video conferencingservices to devices within the private network, or it can be connectedto a public network, e.g., the internet, so it may be accessed byanyone. Some examples may even provide a hybrid model in which a videoconference provider 110 may supply components to enable a privateorganization to host private internal video conferences or to connectits system to the video conference provider 110 over a public network.

The system optionally also includes one or more user identity providers,e.g., user identity provider 115, which can provide user identityservices to users of the client devices 140-160 and may authenticateuser identities of one or more users to the video conference provider110. In this example, the user identity provider 115 is operated by adifferent entity than the video conference provider 110, though in someexamples, they may be the same entity.

Video conference provider 110 allows clients to create videoconferencemeetings (or “meetings”) and invite others to participate in thosemeetings as well as perform other related functionality, such asrecording the meetings, generating transcripts from meeting audio,manage user functionality in the meetings, enable text messaging duringthe meetings, create and manage breakout rooms from the main meeting,etc. FIG. 2, described below, provides a more detailed description ofthe architecture and functionality of the video conference provider 110.

Meetings in this example video conference provider 110 are provided invirtual “rooms” to which participants are connected. The room in thiscontext is a construct provided by a server that provides a common pointat which the various video and audio data is received before beingmultiplexed and provided to the various participants. While a “room” isthe label for this concept in this disclosure, any suitablefunctionality that enables multiple participants to participate in acommon videoconference may be used. Further, in some examples, and asalluded to above, a meeting may also have “breakout” rooms. Suchbreakout rooms may also be rooms that are associated with a “main”videoconference room. Thus, participants in the main videoconferenceroom may exit the room into a breakout room, e.g., to discuss aparticular topic, before returning to the main room. The breakout roomsin this example are discrete meetings that are associated with themeeting in the main room. However, to join a breakout room, aparticipant must first enter the main room. A room may have any numberof associated breakout rooms according to various examples.

To create a meeting with the video conference provider 110, a user maycontact the video conference provider 110 using a client device 140-180and select an option to create a new meeting. Such an option may beprovided in a webpage accessed by a client device 140-160 or clientapplication executed by a client device 140-160. For telephony devices,the user may be presented with an audio menu that they may navigate bypressing numeric buttons on their telephony device. To create themeeting, the video conference provider 110 may prompt the user forcertain information, such as a date, time, and duration for the meeting,a number of participants, a type of encryption to use, whether themeeting is confidential or open to the public, etc. After receiving thevarious meeting settings, the video conference provider may create arecord for the meeting and generate a meeting identifier and, in someexamples, a corresponding meeting password or passcode (or otherauthentication information), all of which meeting information isprovided to the meeting host.

After receiving the meeting information, the user may distribute themeeting information to one or more users to invite them to the meeting.To begin the meeting at the scheduled time (or immediately, if themeeting was set for an immediate start), the host provides the meetingidentifier and, if applicable, corresponding authentication information(e.g., a password or passcode). The video conference system theninitiates the meeting and may admit users to the meeting. Depending onthe options set for the meeting, the users may be admitted immediatelyupon providing the appropriate meeting identifier (and authenticationinformation, as appropriate), even if the host has not yet arrived, orthe users may be presented with information indicating the that meetinghas not yet started or the host may be required to specifically admitone or more of the users.

During the meeting, the participants may employ their client devices140-180 to capture audio or video information and stream thatinformation to the video conference provider 110. They also receiveaudio or video information from the video conference provider 210, whichis displayed by the respective client device 140 to enable the varioususers to participate in the meeting.

At the end of the meeting, the host may select an option to terminatethe meeting, or it may terminate automatically at a scheduled end timeor after a predetermined duration. When the meeting terminates, thevarious participants are disconnected from the meeting and they will nolonger receive audio or video streams for the meeting (and will stoptransmitting audio or video streams). The video conference provider 110may also invalidate the meeting information, such as the meetingidentifier or password/passcode.

To provide such functionality, one or more client devices 140-180 maycommunicate with the video conference provider 110 using one or morecommunication networks, such as network 120 or the public switchedtelephone network (“PSTN”) 130. The client devices 140-180 may be anysuitable computing or communications device that have audio or videocapability. For example, client devices 140-160 may be conventionalcomputing devices, such as desktop or laptop computers having processorsand computer-readable media, connected to the video conference provider110 using the internet or other suitable computer network. Suitablenetworks include the internet, any local area network (“LAN”), metroarea network (“MAN”), wide area network (“WAN”), cellular network (e.g.,3G, 4G, 4G LTE, 5G, etc.), or any combination of these. Other types ofcomputing devices may be used instead or as well, such as tablets,smartphones, and dedicated video conferencing equipment. Each of thesedevices may provide both audio and video capabilities and may enable oneor more users to participate in a video conference meeting hosted by thevideo conference provider 110.

In addition to the computing devices discussed above, client devices140-180 may also include one or more telephony devices, such as cellulartelephones (e.g., cellular telephone 170), internet protocol (“IP”)phones (e.g., telephone 180), or conventional telephones. Such telephonydevices may allow a user to make conventional telephone calls to othertelephony devices using the PSTN, including the video conferenceprovider 110. It should be appreciated that certain computing devicesmay also provide telephony functionality and may operate as telephonydevices. For example, smartphones typically provide cellular telephonecapabilities and thus may operate as telephony devices in the examplesystem 100 shown in FIG. 1. In addition, conventional computing devicesmay execute software to enable telephony functionality, which may allowthe user to make and receive phone calls, e.g., using a headset andmicrophone. Such software may communicate with a PSTN gateway to routethe call from a computer network to the PSTN. Thus, telephony devicesencompass any devices that can make conventional telephone calls and isnot limited solely to dedicated telephony devices like conventionaltelephones.

Referring again to client devices 140-160, these devices 140-160 contactthe video conference provider 110 using network 120 and may provideinformation to the video conference provider 110 to access functionalityprovided by the video conference provider 110, such as access to createnew meetings or join existing meetings. To do so, the client devices140-160 may provide user identification information, meetingidentifiers, meeting passwords or passcodes, etc. In examples thatemploy a user identity provider 115, a client device, e.g., clientdevices 140-160, may operate in conjunction with a user identityprovider 115 to provide user identification information or other userinformation to the video conference provider 110.

A user identity provider 115 may be any entity trusted by the videoconference provider 110 that can help identify a user to the videoconference provider 110. For example, a trusted entity may be a serveroperated by a business or other organization and with whom the user hasestablished their identity, such as an employer or trusted third-party.The user may sign into the user identity provider 115, such as byproviding a username and password, to access their identity at the useridentity provider 115. The identity, in this sense, is informationestablished and maintained at the user identity provider 115 that can beused to identify a particular user, irrespective of the client devicethey may be using. An example of an identity may be an email accountestablished at the user identity provider 110 by the user and secured bya password or additional security features, such as biometricauthentication, two-factor authentication, etc. However, identities maybe distinct from functionality such as email. For example, a health careprovider may establish identities for its patients. And while suchidentities may have associated email accounts, the identity is distinctfrom those email accounts. Thus, a user's “identity” relates to asecure, verified set of information that is tied to a particular userand should be accessible only by that user. By accessing the identity,the associated user may then verify themselves to other computingdevices or services, such as the video conference provider 110.

When the user accesses the video conference provider 110 using a clientdevice, the video conference provider 110 communicates with the useridentity provider 115 using information provided by the user to verifythe user's identity. For example, the user may provide a username orcryptographic signature associated with a user identity provider 115.The user identity provider 115 then either confirms the user's identityor denies the request. Based on this response, the video conferenceprovider 110 either provides or denies access to its services,respectively.

For telephony devices, e.g., client devices 170-180, the user may placea telephone call to the video conference provider 110 to access videoconference services. After the call is answered, the user may provideinformation regarding a video conference meeting, e.g., a meetingidentifier (“ID”), a passcode or password, etc., to allow the telephonydevice to join the meeting and participate using audio devices of thetelephony device, e.g., microphone(s) and speaker(s), even if videocapabilities are not provided by the telephony device.

Because telephony devices typically have more limited functionality thanconventional computing devices, they may be unable to provide certaininformation to the video conference provider 110. For example, telephonydevices may be unable to provide user identification information toidentify the telephony device or the user to the video conferenceprovider 110. Thus, the video conference provider 110 may provide morelimited functionality to such telephony devices. For example, the usermay be permitted to join a meeting after providing meeting information,e.g., a meeting identifier and passcode, but they may be identified onlyas an anonymous participant in the meeting. This may restrict theirability to interact with the meetings in some examples, such as bylimiting their ability to speak in the meeting, hear or view certaincontent shared during the meeting, or access other meetingfunctionality, such as joining breakout rooms or engaging in text chatwith other participants in the meeting.

It should be appreciated that users may choose to participate inmeetings anonymously and decline to provide user identificationinformation to the video conference provider 110, even in cases wherethe user has an authenticated identity and employs a client devicecapable of identifying the user to the video conference provider 110.The video conference provider 110 may determine whether to allow suchanonymous users to use services provided by the video conferenceprovider 110. Anonymous users, regardless of the reason for anonymity,may be restricted as discussed above with respect to users employingtelephony devices, and in some cases may be prevented from accessingcertain meetings or other services, or may be entirely prevented fromaccessing the video conference provider.

Referring again to video conference provider 110, in some examples, itmay allow client devices 140-160 to encrypt their respective video andaudio streams to help improve privacy in their meetings. Encryption maybe provided between the client devices 140-160 and the video conferenceprovider 110 or it may be provided in an end-to-end configuration wheremultimedia streams transmitted by the client devices 140-160 are notdecrypted until they are received by another client device 140-160participating in the meeting. Encryption may also be provided duringonly a portion of a communication, for example encryption may be usedfor otherwise unencrypted communications that cross internationalborders.

Client-to-server encryption may be used to secure the communicationsbetween the client devices 140-160 and the video conference provider110, while allowing the video conference provider 110 to access thedecrypted multimedia streams to perform certain processing, such asrecording the meeting for the participants or generating transcripts ofthe meeting for the participants. End-to-end encryption may be used tokeep the meeting entirely private to the participants without any worryabout a video conference provider 110 having access to the substance ofthe meeting. Any suitable encryption methodology may be employed,including key-pair encryption of the streams. For example, to provideend-to-end encryption, the meeting host's client device may obtainpublic keys for each of the other client devices participating in themeeting and securely exchange a set of keys to encrypt and decryptmultimedia content transmitted during the meeting. Thus the clientdevices 140-160 may securely communicate with each other during themeeting. Further, in some examples, certain types of encryption may belimited by the types of devices participating in the meeting. Forexample, telephony devices may lack the ability to encrypt and decryptmultimedia streams. Thus, while encrypting the multimedia streams may bedesirable in many instances, it is not required as it may prevent someusers from participating in a meeting.

By using the example system shown in FIG. 1, users can create andparticipate in meetings using their respective client devices 140-180via the video conference provider 110. Further, such a system enablesusers to use a wide variety of different client devices 140-180 fromtraditional standards-based video conferencing hardware to dedicatedvideo conferencing equipment to laptop or desktop computers to handhelddevices to legacy telephony devices. etc.

Referring now to FIG. 2, FIG. 2 shows an example system 200 in which avideo conference provider 210 provides videoconferencing functionalityto various client devices 220-250. The client devices 220-250 includetwo conventional computing devices 220-230, dedicated equipment for avideo conference room 240, and a telephony device 250. Each clientdevice 220-250 communicates with the video conference provider 210 overa communications network, such as the internet for client devices220-240 or the PSTN for client device 250, generally as described abovewith respect to FIG. 1. The video conference provider 210 is also incommunication with one or more user identity providers 215, which canauthenticate various users to the video conference provider 210generally as described above with respect to FIG. 1.

In this example, the video conference provider 210 employs multipledifferent servers (or groups of servers) to provide different aspects ofvideo conference functionality, thereby enabling the various clientdevices to create and participate in video conference meetings. Thevideo conference provider 210 uses one or more real-time media servers212, one or more network services servers 214, one or more video roomgateways 216, and one or more telephony gateways 218. Each of theseservers 212-218 is connected to one or more communications networks toenable them to collectively provide access to and participation in oneor more video conference meetings to the client devices 220-250.

The real-time media servers 212 provide multiplexed multimedia streamsto meeting participants, such as the client devices 220-250 shown inFIG. 2. While video and audio streams typically originate at therespective client devices, they are transmitted from the client devices220-250 to the video conference provider 210 via one or more networkswhere they are received by the real-time media servers 212. Thereal-time media servers 212 determine which protocol is optimal basedon, for example, proxy settings and the presence of firewalls, etc. Forexample, the client device might select among UDP, TCP, TLS, or HTTPSfor audio and video and UDP for content screen sharing.

The real-time media servers 212 then multiplex the various video andaudio streams based on the target client device and communicatemultiplexed streams to each client device. For example, the real-timemedia servers 212 receive audio and video streams from client devices220-240 and only an audio stream from client device 250. The real-timemedia servers 212 then multiplex the streams received from devices230-250 and provide the multiplexed stream to client device 220. Thereal-time media servers 212 are adaptive, for example, reacting toreal-time network and client changes, in how they provide these streams.For example, the real-time media servers 212 may monitor parameters suchas a client's bandwidth CPU usage, memory and network I/O as well asnetwork parameters such as packet loss, latency and jitter to determinehow to modify the way in which streams are provided.

The client device 220 receives the stream, performs any decryption,decoding, and demultiplexing on the received streams, and then outputsthe audio and video using the client device's video and audio devices.In this example, the real-time media servers do not multiplex clientdevice 220's own video and audio feeds when transmitting streams to it.Instead each client device 220-250 only receives multimedia streams fromother client devices 220-250. For telephony devices that lack videocapabilities, e.g., client device 250, the real-time media servers 212only deliver multiplex audio streams. The client device 220 may receivemultiple streams for a particular communication, allowing the clientdevice 220 to switch between streams to provide a higher quality ofservice.

In addition to multiplexing multimedia streams, the real-time mediaservers 212 may also decrypt incoming multimedia stream in someexamples. As discussed above, multimedia streams may be encryptedbetween the client devices 220-250 and the video conference provider210. In some such examples, the real-time media servers 212 may decryptincoming multimedia streams, multiplex the multimedia streamsappropriately for the various clients, and encrypt the multiplexedstreams for transmission.

In some examples, to provide multiplexed streams, the video conferenceprovider 210 may receive multimedia streams from the variousparticipants and publish those streams to the various participants tosubscribe to and receive. Thus, the video conference provider 210notifies a client device, e.g., client device 220, about variousmultimedia streams available from the other client devices 230-250, andthe client device 220 can select which multimedia stream(s) to subscribeto and receive. In some examples, the video conference provider 210 mayprovide to each client device the available streams from the otherclient devices, but from the respective client device itself, though inother examples it may provide all available streams to all availableclient devices. Using such a multiplexing technique, the videoconference provider 210 may enable multiple different streams of varyingquality, thereby allowing client devices to change streams in real-timeas needed, e.g., based on network bandwidth, latency, etc.

As mentioned above with respect to FIG. 1, the video conference provider210 may provide certain functionality with respect to unencryptedmultimedia streams at a user's request. For example, the meeting hostmay be able to request that the meeting be recorded or that a transcriptof the audio streams be prepared, which may then be performed by thereal-time media servers 212 using the decrypted multimedia streams, orthe recording or transcription functionality may be off-loaded to adedicated server (or servers), e.g., cloud recording servers, forrecording the audio and video streams. In some examples, the videoconference provider 210 may allow a meeting participant to notify it ofinappropriate behavior or content in a meeting. Such a notification maytrigger the real-time media servers to 212 record a portion of themeeting for review by the video conference provider 210. Still otherfunctionality may be implemented to take actions based on the decryptedmultimedia streams at the video conference provider 210, such asmonitoring video or audio quality, adjusting or changing media encodingmechanisms, etc.

It should be appreciated that multiple real-time media servers 212 maybe involved in communicating data for a single meeting and multimediastreams may be routed through multiple different real-time media servers212. In addition, the various real-time media servers 212 may not beco-located, but instead may be located at multiple different geographiclocations, which may enable high-quality communications between clientsthat are dispersed over wide geographic areas, such as being located indifferent countries or on different continents. Further, in someexamples, one or more of these servers may be co-located on a client'spremises, e.g., at a business or other organization. For example,different geographic regions may each have one or more real-time mediaservers 212 to enable client devices in the same geographic region tohave a high-quality connection into the video conference provider 210via local servers 212 to send and receive multimedia streams, ratherthan connecting to a real-time media server located in a differentcountry or on a different continent. The local real-time media servers212 may then communicate with physically distant servers usinghigh-speed network infrastructure, e.g., internet backbone network(s),that otherwise might not be directly available to client devices 220-250themselves. Thus, routing multimedia streams may be distributedthroughout the video conference system 210 and across many differentreal-time media servers 212.

Turning to the network services servers 214, these servers 214 provideadministrative functionality to enable client devices to create orparticipate in meetings, send meeting invitations, create or manage useraccounts or subscriptions, and other related functionality. Further,these servers may be configured to perform different functionalities orto operate at different levels of a hierarchy, e.g., for specificregions or localities, to manage portions of the video conferenceprovider under a supervisory set of servers. When a client device220-250 accesses the video conference provider 210, it will typicallycommunicate with one or more network services servers 214 to accesstheir account or to participate in a meeting.

When a client device 220-250 first contacts the video conferenceprovider 210 in this example, it is routed to a network services server214. The client device may then provide access credentials for a user,e.g., a username and password or single sign-on credentials, to gainauthenticated access to the video conference provider 210. This processmay involve the network services servers 214 contacting a user identityprovider 215 to verify the provided credentials. Once the user'scredentials have been accepted, the client device may performadministrative functionality, like updating user account information, ifthe user has an identity with the video conference provider 210, orscheduling a new meeting, by interacting with the network servicesservers 214.

In some examples, users may access the video conference provider 210anonymously. When communicating anonymously, a client device 220-250 maycommunicate with one or more network services servers 214 but onlyprovide information to create or join a meeting, depending on whatfeatures the video conference provider allows for anonymous users. Forexample, an anonymous user may access the video conference providerusing client device 220 and provide a meeting ID and passcode. Thenetwork services server 214 may use the meeting ID to identify anupcoming or on-going meeting and verify the passcode is correct for themeeting ID. After doing so, the network services server(s) 214 may thencommunicate information to the client device 220 to enable the clientdevice 220 to join the meeting and communicate with appropriatereal-time media servers 212.

In cases where a user wishes to schedule a meeting, the user (anonymousor authenticated) may select an option to schedule a new meeting and maythen select various meeting options, such as the date and time for themeeting, the duration for the meeting, a type of encryption to be used,one or more users to invite, privacy controls (e.g., not allowinganonymous users, preventing screen sharing, manually authorize admissionto the meeting, etc.), meeting recording options, etc. The networkservices servers 214 may then create and store a meeting record for thescheduled meeting. When the scheduled meeting time arrives (or within athreshold period of time in advance), the network services server(s) 214may accept requests to join the meeting from various users.

To handle requests to join a meeting, the network services server(s) 214may receive meeting information, such as a meeting ID and passcode, fromone or more client devices 220-250. The network services server(s) 214locate a meeting record corresponding to the provided meeting ID andthen confirm whether the scheduled start time for the meeting hasarrived, whether the meeting host has started the meeting, and whetherthe passcode matches the passcode in the meeting record. If the requestis made by the host, the network services server(s) 214 activates themeeting and connects the host to a real-time media server 212 to enablethe host to begin sending and receiving multimedia streams.

Once the host has started the meeting, subsequent users requestingaccess will be admitted to the meeting if the meeting record is locatedand the passcode matches the passcode supplied by the requesting clientdevice 220-250. In some examples additional access controls may be usedas well. But if the network services server(s) 214 determines to admitthe requesting client device 220-250 to the meeting, the networkservices server 214 identifies a real-time media server 212 to handlemultimedia streams to and from the requesting client device 220-250 andprovides information to the client device 220-250 to connect to theidentified real-time media server 212. Additional client devices 220-250may be added to the meeting as they request access through the networkservices server(s) 214.

After joining a meeting, client devices will send and receive multimediastreams via the real-time media servers 212, but they may alsocommunicate with the network services servers 214 as needed duringmeetings. For example, if the meeting host leaves the meeting, thenetwork services server(s) 214 may appoint another user as the newmeeting host and assign host administrative privileges to that user.Hosts may have administrative privileges to allow them to manage theirmeetings, such as by enabling or disabling screen sharing, muting orremoving users from the meeting, creating sub-meetings or “break-out”rooms, recording meetings, etc. Such functionality may be managed by thenetwork services server(s) 214.

For example, if a host wishes to remove a user from a meeting, they mayidentify the user and issue a command through a user interface on theirclient device. The command may be sent to a network services server 214,which may then disconnect the identified user from the correspondingreal-time media server 212. If the host wishes to create a break-outroom for one or more meeting participants to join, such a command mayalso be handled by a network services server 214, which may create a newmeeting record corresponding to the break-out room and then connect oneor more meeting participants to the break-out room similarly to how itoriginally admitted the participants to the meeting itself.

In addition to creating and administering on-going meetings, the networkservices server(s) 214 may also be responsible for closing andtearing-down meetings once they have completed. For example, the meetinghost may issue a command to end an on-going meeting, which is sent to anetwork services server 214. The network services server 214 may thenremove any remaining participants from the meeting, communicate with oneor more real time media servers 212 to stop streaming audio and videofor the meeting, and deactivate, e.g., by deleting a correspondingpasscode for the meeting from the meeting record, or delete the meetingrecord(s) corresponding to the meeting. Thus, if a user later attemptsto access the meeting, the network services server(s) 214 may deny therequest.

Depending on the functionality provided by the video conferenceprovider, the network services server(s) 214 may provide additionalfunctionality, such as by providing private meeting capabilities fororganizations, special types of meetings (e.g., webinars), etc. Suchfunctionality may be provided according to various examples of videoconferencing providers according to this description.

Referring now to the video room gateway servers 216, these servers 216provide an interface between dedicated video conferencing hardware, suchas may be used in dedicated video conferencing rooms. Such videoconferencing hardware may include one or more cameras and microphonesand a computing device designed to receive video and audio streams fromeach of the cameras and microphones and connect with the videoconference provider 210. For example, the video conferencing hardwaremay be provided by the video conference provider to one or more of itssubscribers, which may provide access credentials to the videoconferencing hardware to use to connect to the video conferenceprovider.

The video room gateway servers 216 provide specialized authenticationand communication with the dedicated video conferencing hardware thatmay not be available to other client devices 220-230, 250. For example,the video conferencing hardware may register with the video conferenceprovider when it is first installed and the video room gateway mayauthenticate the video conferencing hardware using such registration aswell as information provided to the video room gateway server(s) 216when dedicated video conferencing hardware connects to it, such asdevice ID information, subscriber information, hardware capabilities,hardware version information etc. Upon receiving such information andauthenticating the dedicated video conferencing hardware, the video roomgateway server(s) 216 may interact with the network services servers 214and real-time media servers 212 to allow the video conferencing hardwareto create or join meetings hosted by the video conference provider 210.

Referring now to the telephony gateway servers 218, these servers 218enable and facilitate telephony devices' participation in meetings hosedby the video conference provider. Because telephony devices communicateusing the PSTN and not using computer networking protocols, such asTCP/IP, the telephony gateway servers 218 act as an interface thatconverts between the PSTN and the networking system used by the videoconference provider 210.

For example, if a user uses a telephony device to connect to a meeting,they may dial a phone number corresponding to one of the videoconference provider's telephony gateway servers 218. The telephonygateway server 218 will answer the call and generate audio messagesrequesting information from the user, such as a meeting ID and passcode.The user may enter such information using buttons on the telephonydevice, e.g., by sending dual-tone multi-frequency (“DTMF”) audiosignals to the telephony gateway server 218. The telephony gatewayserver 218 determines the numbers or letters entered by the user andprovides the meeting ID and passcode information to the network servicesservers 214, along with a request to join or start the meeting,generally as described above. Once the telephony client device 250 hasbeen accepted into a meeting, the telephony gateway server 218 isinstead joined to the meeting on the telephony device's behalf.

After joining the meeting, the telephony gateway server 218 receives anaudio stream from the telephony device and provides it to thecorresponding real-time media server 212, and receives audio streamsfrom the real-time media server 212, decodes them, and provides thedecoded audio to the telephony device. Thus, the telephony gatewayservers 218 operate essentially as client devices, while the telephonydevice operates largely as an input/output device, e.g., a microphoneand speaker, for the corresponding telephony gateway server 218, therebyenabling the user of the telephony device to participate in the meetingdespite not using a computing device or video.

It should be appreciated that the components of the video conferenceprovider 210 discussed above are merely examples of such devices and anexample architecture. Some video conference providers may provide moreor less functionality than described above and may not separatefunctionality into different types of servers as discussed above.Instead, any suitable servers and network architectures may be usedaccording to different examples.

Referring now to FIG. 3, FIG. 3 shows an example of an operatingenvironment 300 for virtual receptionist through videoconferencing,according to certain aspects described herein. The operating environment300 includes local systems located at various locations 330A-330N, andreceptionist devices 360A-360M associated with respective remotereceptionists 362A-362M configured to support the check-in process ofvisitors at the locations 330A-330N. The various locations 330A-330N maybe referred to herein individually as a location 330 or collectively asthe locations 330. Likewise, the receptionist devices 360A-360M may bereferred to herein individually as a receptionist device 360 orcollectively as the receptionist devices 360. The remote receptionists362A-362M may be referred to herein individually as a remotereceptionist 362 or collectively as remote receptionists 362. In someimplementations, the number of remote receptionists 362 is smaller thanthe number of locations 330.

The operating environment 300 further includes a video conferenceprovider 210 configured to provide video conference functionalities forreception room meeting devices 302 located at reception areas 320 of thelocations 330 and the receptionist devices 360. The operatingenvironment 300 further includes a virtual receptionist system 350configured to facilitate the check-in process performed by the remotereceptionists 362, such as collecting data associated with a visitor forthe remote receptionists 362 and transmitting data to devices in thereception area 320 according to the commands sent from the receptionistdevices 360. The virtual receptionist system 350 may be a systemaccessible over a network 340 (e.g., a cloud computing system) or asystem local to the respective locations 330. The network 340 might be alocal-area network (“LAN”), a wide-area network (“WAN”), the Internet,or any type of data communications network known in the art that enablescommunications between the various components in the operatingenvironment 300.

At each location 330A, such as an office building or a hotel, areception room meeting device 302, one or more input device(s) 304, andone or more output device(s) 306 may be installed in a reception area320. The reception room meeting device 302 is configured to establish avideo call with a receptionist device 360 associated with a remotereceptionist 362. The one or more input device(s) 304 are configured toobtain data associated with visitors to the reception area 320. Theinput devices may include an identification (ID) scanner 305 (e.g., toscan the visitor's ID), a chip reader 310 (e.g., to read the visitor'sinformation through reading a chip on a device carried by the visitor),a temperature sensor 308 (to measure the body temperature of thevisitor), or a camera/image sensor (e.g., to detect the face of thevisitor). The camera/image sensor may be integrated into the receptionroom meeting device 302 or a stand-alone camera connected to thereception room meeting device 302. The one or more output device(s) 306are configured for presenting information to the visitor (e.g., adisplay device for presenting a map) or generating documents for thevisitor (e.g., a badge printer, a parking ticket printer, or ageneral-purpose printer). The display device may be a stand-alonedisplay device or integrated into the reception room meeting device 302.The reception room meeting device 302, the input device(s) 304, andoutput device(s) 306 may be communicatively connected to each other andto other systems, such as the virtual receptionist system 350, the videoconference provider 210, and the receptionist devices 360.

A visitor 332 to the reception area 320 may trigger an activation signalat the reception room meeting device 302 to start a video conferencewith a remote receptionist 362. The activation signal for a video callmay be triggered in various ways. For example, the visitor 332 maytrigger the call by pressing a button on the reception room meetingdevice 302 (e.g., pushing a “call” button displayed on the receptionroom meeting device 302 or a physical button dedicated to initiating avideo call with a remote receptionist). In response to receiving theuser input, the reception room meeting device 302 generates anactivation signal for the call. The visitor 332 may also trigger thecall by standing in front of the camera/image sensor that is integratedinto or otherwise connected to the reception room meeting device 302.The reception room meeting device 302 may be configured to detect ahuman based on the images captured by the camera and generate anactivation signal for the call. In a further example, the visitor 332may trigger the call by scanning his/her ID card using the ID scanner305 or placing his/her cellphone or other personal device near the chipreader for reading of the information. Upon detecting that an ID card isscanned at the ID scanner 305, the reception room meeting device 302 maygenerate an activation signal for the call. Various other ways oftriggering the video call with a remote receptionist 362 may beimplemented.

Based on the activation signal, the reception room meeting device 302can generate a meeting request for a video meeting with a remotereceptionist 362. In some examples, the reception room meeting device302 is configured with a list of candidate remote receptionists fromwhich a remote receptionist can be selected to assist a visitor 332 atthe reception area 320 where the reception room meeting device 302 islocated. The list of candidate remote receptionists may be specified byan administrator in a portal user interface configured to customize thereception room meeting device 302. For instance, the reception roommeeting device 302 is configured with a software template for setting upthe video meeting with a remote receptionist. The template allows anadministrator to enter the list of candidate remote receptionists tocall and also to set up the way to initiate the call, such as dialinginto a meeting or dial straight to the receptionist device 360 of aselected remote receptionist. In some examples, the template also allowsthe administrator to customize the user interface of the reception roommeeting device 302, such as setting up a welcome screen with a callbutton.

The reception room meeting device 302 can also be configured todetermine a preference setting for the meeting. For instance, thereception room meeting device 302 accesses or otherwise receives audiodata sampled by a microphone of the reception room meeting device 302 todetect the language used by the visitor 332 as the preferred language ofthe meeting. The preferred language may also be input by the visitor332, such as through selecting a menu option on a user interfacepresented on the reception room meeting device 302. The input of thepreferred language may also be performed through a voice command wherethe reception room meeting device 302 analyzes the audio data capturedby the microphone to detect the voice command. The reception roommeeting device 302 can also be configured to generate preferencesettings based on other characteristics of the visitor 332, such ashearing impairment or visual impairment of the user, obtained throughuser interaction with the reception room meeting device 302, forexample.

The reception room meeting device 302 can generate the meeting requestto include the list of candidate remote receptionists, the preferencesetting, and other information. In one example, the reception roommeeting device 302 sends the meeting request to the video conferenceprovider 210. The video conference provider 210 selects, among the listof candidate remote receptionists, a remote receptionist based on thepreference setting and the availabilities of the remote receptionists362. For example, the video conference provider 210 determines, from thelist of candidate remote receptionists, qualified remote receptionistsas those matching the preference settings. If the preference settingsinclude a preferred language for the meeting, the video conferenceprovider 210 determines those candidate remote receptionists who speakthe preferred language as the qualified remote receptionists. If thepreference setting includes an indication that the meeting is to be setup for a visitor having a hearing impairment, the video conferenceprovider 210 determines those candidate remote receptionists who knowsign language as qualified remote receptionists. The video conferenceprovider 210 further checks the availabilities of the qualified remotereceptionists and selects a qualified remote receptionist who isavailable to assist the visitor 332.

The video conference provider 210 can further send a meeting request tothe receptionist device 360 associated with the selected remotereceptionist. Upon acceptance of the request, the video conferenceprovider 210 can establish and support the video meeting between thereception room meeting device 302 and the receptionist device 360 asdescribed above with respect to FIGS. 1 and 2.

In another example, the reception room meeting device 302 is configuredto send the meeting request to the virtual receptionist system 350.Responsive to the meeting request, the virtual receptionist system 350selects the remote receptionist based on the list of candidate remotereceptionists and the preference settings in a way similar to that usedby the video conference provider 210 described above. The virtualreceptionist system 350 sends data identifying the selected remotereceptionist to the video conference provider 210 which in turnestablishes a video meeting between the reception room meeting device302 and the receptionist device 360 as described above with respect toFIGS. 1 and 2.

To facilitate the check-in process of the visitor 332, the virtualreceptionist system 350 can further obtain data about the visitor 332from the input device(s) 304. The collection of the information can betriggered when at least one of the input devices 304 is activated. Forexample, if the visitor 332 scanned his/her ID card using the ID scanner305, the virtual receptionist system 350 can obtain a copy of thescanned ID card. If the visitor 332 places his/her device close to thechip reader 310 to allow the chip reader 310 to read authenticationinformation stored on the chip of the device, the virtual receptionistsystem 350 can obtain a copy of the authentication information from thechip reader 310. If the temperature sensor 308 has a reading of thevisitor's temperature, the virtual receptionist system 350 can obtainthe temperature reading from the temperature sensor 308 as well.

In some examples, the virtual receptionist system 350 is furtherconfigured to process the obtained data associated with the visitor 332.For example, the virtual receptionist system 350 can compare thetemperature reading with a temperature requirement, e.g., to check for apotential fever, to determine if the visitor 332 is allowed to enter thebuilding. The virtual receptionist system 350 may also be configured tostore or have access to records of the scheduled visits, which mayinclude information such as the name, address, or organization of thevisitor, the host of the visitor, the destination room 322 that thevisitor is scheduled to visit and so on. The virtual receptionist system350 can thus process the scanned ID card (e.g., using image processingor recognition) to determine the information shown on the ID card, suchas name, identification number, organization, address, or other aspectsof the visitor 332 and determine if the extracted information matchesthe record. The virtual receptionist system 350 may be furtherconfigured to extract a picture of the visitor 332 from the ID card ifrequired. Likewise, the virtual receptionist system 350 may also analyzethe data obtained from the chip reader to determine the basicinformation about the visitor 332, such as name, address, etc., and todetermine whether the information matches the record. Although the abovedescribes multiple input devices 304, not all the input devices are usedto obtain data associated with the visitor 332. For example, in somescenarios, only one of the ID scanner 305 or the chip reader 310 isinstalled or used to obtain data.

Based on the obtained data and the analysis results, the virtualreceptionist system 350 can determine the status of the visitor 332. Thestatus can be an authenticity status indicating whether the identity ofthe visitor 332 is authentic or a physical status indicating whether thevisitor 332 is physically suitable to enter the premises (e.g., whetherthe body temperature meets the requirement). The virtual receptionistsystem 350 can be configured to send the status of the visitor 332 tothe receptionist device 360 of the selected remote receptionist. Inexamples where the virtual receptionist system 350 selects the remotereceptionist for the visitor 332, the virtual receptionist system 350may transmit the status information to the remote receptionist 362before, concurrently, or after sending the meeting request to the videoconference provider 210.

In examples where the video conference provider 210 selects the remotereceptionist for the visitor 332, the virtual receptionist system 350can obtain information of the selected remote receptionist from thevideo conference provider 210 or from the reception room meeting device302. For instance, once the remote receptionist is selected, the videoconference provider 210 transmits the information of the selected remotereceptionist 362 to the virtual receptionist system 350 so that thevirtual receptionist system 350 can determine the receptionist device360 to which the status of the visitor is to be transmitted.Alternatively, or additionally, the reception room meeting device 302can be configured to send the virtual receptionist system 350information about the selected remote receptionist. In further examples,the virtual receptionist system 350 may be configured to transmit thestatus of the visitor 332 and other information upon a request from thereceptionist device 360 associated with the selected remote receptionist362. In any of the above examples, the remote receptionist 362 can viewthe status of the visitor 332 prior to or during the check-in process ofthe visitor 332 and determine whether to allow the visitor 332 to enterthe premises.

If the remote receptionist 362 determines that the visitor 332 can enterthe premises, the remote receptionist may use the associatedreceptionist device 360 to send commands to the output device(s) 306 inthe reception area 320 to generate documents or provide information tothe visitor 332. For example, if a visitor badge is needed, thereceptionist device 360 sends a request to the badge printer 312 toprint a badge for the visitor 332. If a parking ticket is needed, thereceptionist device 360 sends a request to the parking ticket printer314 to print a parking ticket for the visitor 332. If other documentsare needed, the receptionist device 360 sends a request to the generalprinter 316 to print the documents for the visitor 332. The request fromthe receptionist device 360 may be sent to directly to the outputdevice(s) 306 in the reception area 320 or to the virtual receptionistsystem 350 which in turn requests the corresponding output device(s) 306to perform the required actions.

In further examples, the receptionist device 360 associated with theremote receptionist 362 can send a request to the virtual receptionistsystem 350 to request digital content, such as a floor map of thebuilding, to be presented on a display device located in the receptionarea 320. The digital content may also be text or images showing thestatus of the check-in process, such as “temperature okay,”“authentication verified,” “host notified,” etc. The display device maybe a standalone display device installed in the reception area 320 orthe display integrated into the reception room meeting device 302.

In some implementations, the virtual receptionist system 350 is furtherconfigured to determine the status of the destination room 322 that thevisitor 332 is scheduled to visit. The virtual receptionist system 350can access or otherwise maintain room status for conference rooms orother rooms that are open to visitors, such as the capacity of therooms, the current number of occupants in the respective rooms, and soon. The capacity of the rooms may be dynamically determined. Forinstance, if there is an ongoing pandemic, the virtual receptionistsystem 350 reduces the capacity of the rooms so that social distancingcan be maintained. The virtual receptionist system 350 can restore thenormal capacity of the rooms later on when the pandemic is over. Thevirtual receptionist system 350 further transmits the room status to thereceptionist device 360 associated with the remote receptionist 362. Insituations where the destination room 322 that the visitor 332 isscheduled to visit is full, the virtual receptionist system 350 mayfurther provide recommendations on alternative rooms that the visitor332 may visit based on the fullness of other rooms on the same premises.

The virtual receptionist system 350 can further be configured to send anotification to a device associated with the host of the visitor 332.For example, if the visitor 332 is checked in, the receptionist device360 can send a request to the virtual receptionist system 350 (or thevirtual receptionist system 350 can determine on its own) to send anotification to a device associated with the host, such as via a textmessage, a phone call, an email or an instant message through an onlinechatting application.

Referring now to FIG. 4, FIG. 4 shows an example of a process 400 forestablishing a video conference between a reception room meeting deviceand a receptionist device for a visitor, according to some aspectsdescribed herein. The process 400 of FIG. 4 will be described withrespect to the systems shown in FIG. 3; however any suitable systemaccording to this disclosure may be employed, including any of thesystems shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. In some embodiments, one or morecomputing devices (e.g., the video conference provider 210) implementoperations depicted in FIG. 4 by executing suitable program code.

At block 410, the video conference provider 210 receives a request for ameeting with a remote receptionist 362. In some examples, the videoconference provider 210 receives the request for a meeting from areception room meeting device 302. As discussed above with regard toFIG. 3, the request for a meeting may be generated based on anactivation signal triggered in various ways. For example, a visitor 332to the location where the reception room meeting device 302 is locatedmay trigger the meeting by pressing a button on the reception roommeeting device 302 (e.g., pushing a “call” button displayed on thereception room meeting device 302 or a physical button dedicated toinitiating a video call with a remote receptionist). In response toreceiving the user input, the reception room meeting device 302generates an activation signal for the meeting. The visitor 332 may alsotrigger the meeting by standing in front of the camera/image sensor thatis integrated in or otherwise connected to the reception room meetingdevice 302. The reception room meeting device 302 may be configured todetect a human based on the images captured by the camera and generatean activation signal for the meeting. The visitor 332 may also triggerthe meeting by scanning his/her ID card using the ID scanner 306 orplacing his/her device close to the chip reader 310. Upon detecting thatan ID card is scanned at the ID scanner 305 or a chip is read by thechip reader 310, the reception room meeting device 302 may generate anactivation signal for the meeting.

In some examples, the request has request data associated therewithspecifying a list of candidate remote receptionists from which theremote receptionist 362 assisting the visitor 332 is to be selected. Therequest data may further include an indication of a preference settingfor the meeting. As described above with respect to FIG. 3, thepreference setting for the meeting can be determined by the receptionroom meeting device 302. For instance, the reception room meeting device302 determines a preferred language for the meeting by accessing orotherwise receiving audio data to detect the language used by thevisitor 332. The preferred language may also be input by the visitor332, such as through selecting a menu option on a user interfacepresented on the reception room meeting device 302 or through a voicecommand. The reception room meeting device 302 can generate preferencesettings based on other characteristics of the visitor 332, such ashearing impairment or visual impairment of the user, obtained throughuser interaction with the reception room meeting device 302.

At block 420, the video conference provider 210 determines qualifiedremote receptionists based on the list of candidate remote receptionistsspecified in the request. If the request data of the request specifiesone or more preference settings for the meeting, the video conferenceprovider 210 further selects the qualified remote receptionists thatsatisfy the preference setting(s). For example, if the preferencesetting includes a preferred language for the meeting, the videoconference provider 210 determines those candidate remote receptionistswho speak the preferred language as the qualified remote receptionists.If the preference setting includes an indication that the meeting is tobe set up for a visitor having a hearing impairment, the videoconference provider 210 determines those candidate remote receptionistswho knows sign language as qualified remote receptionists.

At block 430, the video conference provider 210 determines theavailabilities of the qualified remote receptionists. In some examples,the video conference provider 210 maintains or has access to thereal-time statuses of the accounts associated with the remotereceptionists 362. The status for a remote receptionist may indicatethat the remote receptionist is busy (e.g., in a meeting), offline,away, or available. Based on the real-time statuses of the remotereceptionists, the video conference provider 210 is able to identifythose qualified remote receptionists who are available to assist withthe visitor 332.

At block 440, the video conference provider 210 determines if at leastone qualified remote receptionist is available. If not, the videoconference provider 210 waits for a period of time at block 450. Thewait time may be randomly selected or pre-determined. If the videoconference provider 210 determines that there is at least one qualifiedremote receptionist available, the video conference provider 210 sends,at block 460, a meeting request to the receptionist device 360associated with one of the available remote receptionists 362. Uponacceptance of the meeting request by the remote receptionist 362, thevideo conference provider 210 establishes, at block 470, a video meetingbetween the reception room meeting device 302 and the receptionistdevice 360 associated with the remote receptionist as described abovewith respect to FIGS. 1 and 2. At block 480, the video conferenceprovider 210 disconnects the meeting responsive to receiving adisconnection request from the receptionist device 360 or the receptionroom meeting device 302.

In the example shown in FIG. 4, the video conference provider 210selects the remote receptionist for the visitor 332 from the list ofcandidate remote receptionists specified in the request. It is possiblethat when the request is received, none of the candidate remotereceptionists is available for a long time (e.g., longer than athreshold wait time), or none of them are qualified remote receptionistsaccording to the preference setting in the request. In such scenarios,the video conference provider 210 can search for qualified availableremote receptionists outside the list of candidate remote receptionistsand provide a recommendation for an alternative remote receptionist.Specifically, the video conference provider 210 estimates the timeperiod that a remote receptionist is unavailable based on the status andstatistics of the remote receptionist. For instance, the videoconference provider 210 can compare the average length of meetingsinvolving the remote receptionist 362 with the elapsed time of a meetingthat the remote receptionist is currently in to determine the remainingtime that the remote receptionist will be in the meeting. The remotereceptionist system 350 can perform the same estimation for all thequalified remote receptionists. The virtual receptionist system 350 cansend a notification to the reception room meeting device 302 with theshortest estimated wait time, where the reception room meeting device302 is configured to display the estimated wait time to the visitor 332.

If none of the qualified remote receptionists has an estimated remainingmeeting time shorter than the threshold wait time, the video conferenceprovider 210 can provide the recommendation for an alternative remotereceptionist. The video conference provider 210 may maintain, or obtainfrom the virtual receptionist system 350, a list of remote receptioniststhat are authorized to serve visitors to the location 330 but are notspecified in the request. The video conference provider 210 candetermine whether any of these additional remote receptionists arequalified and available to assist the visitor 332 as described above.The video conference provider 210 may present any determined remotereceptionist to an administrator or other personnel in charge ofmanaging the remote receptionists for approval. Upon receiving theapproval, the video conference provider 210 can establish a videomeeting between the reception room meeting device 302 and thereceptionist device 360 of the recommended remote receptionist 362.

Referring now to FIG. 5, FIG. 5 shows an example of a process 500 forfacilitating the check-in process of a visitor by a remote receptionist,according to some aspects described herein. The process 500 of FIG. 5will be described with respect to the systems shown in FIG. 3; howeverany suitable system according to this disclosure may be employed,including any of the systems shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. In someembodiments, one or more computing devices (e.g., the virtualreceptionist system 350) implement operations depicted in FIG. 5 byexecuting suitable program code.

At block 510, the virtual receptionist system 350 accesses dataassociated with a visitor 332. As discussed above with respect to FIG.3, the data can be obtained by various input devices 304 at the locationof the visitor 332. As discussed above with respect to FIG. 3,collecting the data associated with the visitor 332 can be triggeredwhen at least one of the input devices 304 is activated. For example, ifthe visitor 332 scanned his/her ID card using the ID scanner 305, thevirtual receptionist system 350 can obtain a copy of the scanned IDcard. If the visitor 332 uses the chip reader to enter his/herauthentication information, the virtual receptionist system 350 canobtain a copy of the authentication information. If the temperaturesensor 308 has a reading of the visitor's temperature, the virtualreceptionist system 350 can obtain the temperature reading from thetemperature sensor 308. The data associated with the visitor 332 canfurther include a picture of the visitor 332, such as a picture taken bya camera on the reception room meeting device 302 or another camera inthe reception area.

At block 520, the virtual receptionist system 350 determines the statusof the visitor 332 based on the data associated with the visitor. Forexample, the virtual receptionist system 350 compares the temperaturereading with a temperature requirement to determine if the visitor 332is well enough to be allowed to enter the building. The virtualreceptionist system 350 processes the scanned ID card or the dataobtained by the chip reader to determine information of the visitor 332,such as name, identification number, organization, address, anddetermine whether the extracted information matches the informationstored in the records of the scheduled visits. The virtual receptionistsystem 350 may be further configured to compare (e.g., using facerecognition) the picture of the visitor obtained by a camera withhis/her picture on the scanned ID card. Based on the processedinformation, the virtual receptionist system 350 determines the statusof the visitor 332. The status can be an authenticity status indicatingwhether the identity of the visitor 332 is authenticate or a physicalstatus indicating whether the visitor 332 is physically suitable toenter the premises (e.g., whether the body temperature meets therequirement).

At block 530, the virtual receptionist system 350 determines the remotereceptionist 362 for assisting the visitor 332. In scenarios where thereception room meeting device 302 sends the request for a meeting to thevirtual receptionist system 350, the virtual receptionist system 350 candetermine qualified remote receptionists 362 from the list of candidateremote receptionists in a similar way as the video conference provider210 described above with respect to FIG. 4. To determine theavailabilities of these qualified remote receptionists, the virtualreceptionist system 350 can request the video conference provider 210 tosend the statuses of the qualified remote receptionists or identifiersof qualified remote receptionists who are available based on theirstatuses. The virtual receptionist system 350 selects a remotereceptionist from the available remote receptionists. The virtualreceptionist system 350 further transmits a meeting request to the videoconference provider 210 to start the video meeting between the receptionroom meeting device 302 and the receptionist device 360 associated withthe selected remote receptionist 362. Similar to that described abovewith respect to FIG. 4, the virtual receptionist system 350 may also beconfigured to provide recommendation for an alternative remotereceptionist if none of the qualified candidate remote receptionists isavailable for a long time or there are no qualified remote receptionistsin the list of candidate remote receptionists.

In scenarios where the reception room meeting device 302 sends therequest for a meeting to the video conference provider 210, the virtualreceptionist system 350 can obtain the information about the selectedremote receptionist from the video conference provider 210.

At block 540, the virtual receptionist system 350 transmits the statusof the visitor 332 to the receptionist device 360 associated with theselected remote receptionist 362 to facilitate the check-in process. Thetransmission may be before, concurrently, or after the virtualreceptionist system 350 requests the video conference provider 210 toestablish the meeting. In some examples, the transmission is at therequest of the receptionist device 360 of the selected remotereceptionist 362.

At block 550, the virtual receptionist system 350 obtains and transmitsadditional information to the receptionist device 360 associated withthe selected remote receptionist 362 if it receives new data about thevisitor 332 from the input device(s) 304. In further examples and asdiscussed above with respect to FIG. 3, the virtual receptionist system350 is configured to determine the status of the destination room 322that the visitor 332 is scheduled to visit. The virtual receptionistsystem 350 compares the current capacity of the destination room 322 andthe number of occupants in that room to determine whether the room isfully occupied. The virtual receptionist system 350 further transmitsthe room status to the receptionist device 360 associated with theremote receptionist. In situations where the room that the visitor 332is scheduled to visit is full, the virtual receptionist system 350 mayfurther provide recommendations on alternative rooms that the visitor332 may visit. The visitor 332 may further collect and transmit otherinformation to the receptionist device 360.

At block 560, the virtual receptionist system 350 receives a commandfrom the receptionist device 360. In some examples, the commandinstructs one or more output device(s) 306 in the reception area 320 tobe activated to generate documents or provide information to the visitor332, as discussed above with respect to FIG. 3. The command can be acommand to instruct the badge printer 312 to print a badge for thevisitor 332, a command to instruct the parking ticket printer 314 toprint a parking ticket for the visitor 332, a command to print thedocuments for the visitor 332. The command may instruct digital content,such as a floor map of the building, to be presented on a display devicelocated in the reception area 320. The digital content may also be textor images showing the status of the process, such as “temperature okay”“authentication verified” “host notified” etc. In other examples, thevirtual receptionist system 350 may also receive a command to notify thehost about the arrival of the visitor 332 and the room the visitor 332is instructed to stay in while waiting for the host.

At block 570, the virtual receptionist system 350 sends instructions toactivate the corresponding output device(s) 306 or other devices basedon the command received at block 560. For example, depending on thecommand received at block 560, the virtual receptionist system 350 mayinstruct the output device(s) and other devices in the reception area320 to print the document or display the content as instructed. If thecommand is to notify the host, the virtual receptionist system 350 mayretrieve the contact information of the host (e.g., the email address,phone number, online chat account), and send a notification in a properformat (e.g., an email, a text message, a phone call, or an instantmessage). Sending such a notification can activate the device of thehost (e.g., a cellphone or a computer) to display the notification.

FIG. 6 shows an example of a user interface 600 presented on a receptionroom meeting device 302 in a reception area 320 when the video meetingbetween the reception room meeting device 302 and a receptionist device360 is established, according to certain aspects described herein. Theuser interface 600 includes a primary video display area 602 showing thevideo of the remote receptionist 362 and a secondary video display area604 showing the video of the visitor 332. In the example shown in FIG.6, the secondary video display area 604 is overlaid on the primary videodisplay area 602. In some examples, the reception room meeting device302 or the video conference provider 210 is configured to determine thelocation and size of the secondary video display area 604 so that itdoes not block or overlap with the face of the remote receptionist shownin the primary video display area 602. For instance, the reception roommeeting device 302 or the video conference provider 210 performs facedetection on the video of the remote receptionist to detect the faceregion. The reception room meeting device 302 or the video conferenceprovider 210 further determines the location of the secondary videodisplay area 604 so that it does not block or occlude the face region ofthe remote receptionist video when overlaid on top of the remotereceptionist video.

If changing the location of the secondary video display area 604 aloneis insufficient to avoid occlusion, the reception room meeting device302 or the video conference provider 210 may further adjust the size ofthe secondary video display area 604 to avoid the occlusion. In someexamples, the size of the secondary video display area 604 is maintainedto be no smaller than a minimum size. If needed, the reception roommeeting device 302 or the video conference provider 210 may also beconfigured to send a notification to the receptionist device 360 torequest the remote receptionist to adjust his/her gesture so that thesecondary video display area 604 can be properly displayed in the userinterface 600 (e.g., does not overlap with the face region of the remotereceptionist video, is maintained above a minimum size, is placed at aspecific location, etc.).

In addition to the video of the remote receptionist and the visitor, theuser interface shown on the reception room meeting device 302 isconfigured to include a minimal set of user interface controls that arenecessary to the video meeting to avoid distraction. For example, theuser interface 600 shown in FIG. 6 only includes a volume control 606that allows the visitor 332 to adjust the audio volume of the meeting.In other configurations, the user interface may include a user interfacecontrol to allow the visitor 332 to select preferred language or othermeeting preferences.

It should be understood that although the examples shown above focus onvideo meetings between the reception room meeting device 302 and thereceptionist device 360 associated with the remote receptionist 362, thecommunication between the reception room meeting device 302 and thereceptionist device 360 can also be an audio connection, such as anaudio phone call. In this example, the video conference provider 210,the virtual receptionist system 350 or another system facilitates theaudio connection between the reception room meeting device 302 and thereceptionist device 360 associated with the remote receptionist 362 in away similar to those described above for the video meetings.

In additional examples, the remote receptionist selected for the visitor332 could route the visitor to another individual (e.g., another virtualreceptionist). For example, after talking to the visitor 332 through theestablished connection (video meeting or audio call), the selectedremote receptionist can have the reception room meeting device 302connect to the device associated with another individual who can furtherassist the visitor 332, such as another receptionist device 360associated with another remote receptionist. This can be achieved by,for example, the receptionist device 360 associated with the firstremote receptionist sending a request to the video conference provider210 or the virtual receptionist system 350 with the information of theindividual identified by the first remote receptionist. The videoconference provider 210 or the virtual receptionist system 350 thenconnects the reception room meeting device 302 to the device associatedwith the identified individual through a video meeting or an audioconnection.

Referring now to FIG. 7, FIG. 7 shows an example computing device 700suitable for implementing aspects of the techniques and technologiesdescribed herein. The example computing device 700 includes a processor710 which is in communication with the memory 720 and other componentsof the computing device 700 using one or more communications buses 702.The processor 710 is configured to execute processor-executableinstructions stored in the memory 720 to execute the reception roommeeting device 302, the virtual receptionist system 350, the videoconference provider 210, or a portion thereof according to thisdisclosure or to perform one or more methods for facilitating thecheck-in process of a visitor by a remote receptionist according todifferent examples, such as part or all of the example processes 400 and500 described above with respect to FIGS. 4 and 5. The computing device,in this example, also includes one or more user input devices 750, suchas a keyboard, mouse, touchscreen, video capture device, microphone,etc., to accept user input. The computing device 700 also includes adisplay 740 to provide visual output to a user.

The computing device 700 also includes a communications interface 730.In some examples, the communications interface 730 may enablecommunications using one or more networks, including a local areanetwork (“LAN”); wide area network (“WAN”), such as the Internet;metropolitan area network (“MAN”); point-to-point or peer-to-peerconnection; etc. Communication with other devices may be accomplishedusing any suitable networking protocol. For example, one suitablenetworking protocol may include the Internet Protocol (“IP”),Transmission Control Protocol (“TCP”), User Datagram Protocol (“UDP”),or combinations thereof, such as TCP/IP or UDP/IP.

While some examples of methods and systems herein are described in termsof software executing on various machines, the methods and systems mayalso be implemented as specifically-configured hardware, such asfield-programmable gate array (FPGA) specifically to execute the variousmethods according to this disclosure. For example, examples can beimplemented in digital electronic circuitry, or in computer hardware,firmware, software, or in a combination thereof. In one example, adevice may include a processor or processors. The processor comprises acomputer-readable medium, such as a random access memory (RAM) coupledto the processor. The processor executes computer-executable programinstructions stored in memory, such as executing one or more computerprograms. Such processors may comprise a microprocessor, a digitalsignal processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit(ASIC), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), and state machines. Suchprocessors may further comprise programmable electronic devices such asPLCs, programmable interrupt controllers (PICs), programmable logicdevices (PLDs), programmable read-only memories (PROMs), electronicallyprogrammable read-only memories (EPROMs or EEPROMs), or other similardevices.

Such processors may comprise, or may be in communication with, media,for example one or more non-transitory computer-readable media, that maystore processor-executable instructions that, when executed by theprocessor, can cause the processor to perform methods according to thisdisclosure as carried out, or assisted, by a processor. Examples ofnon-transitory computer-readable medium may include, but are not limitedto, an electronic, optical, magnetic, or other storage device capable ofproviding a processor, such as the processor in a web server, withprocessor-executable instructions. Other examples of non-transitorycomputer-readable media include, but are not limited to, a floppy disk,CD-ROM, magnetic disk, memory chip, ROM, RAM, ASIC, configuredprocessor, all optical media, all magnetic tape or other magnetic media,or any other medium from which a computer processor can read. Theprocessor, and the processing, described may be in one or morestructures, and may be dispersed through one or more structures. Theprocessor may comprise code to carry out methods (or parts of methods)according to this disclosure.

The foregoing description of some examples has been presented only forthe purpose of illustration and description and is not intended to beexhaustive or to limit the disclosure to the precise forms disclosed.Numerous modifications and adaptations thereof will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of thedisclosure.

Reference herein to an example or implementation means that a particularfeature, structure, operation, or other characteristic described inconnection with the example may be included in at least oneimplementation of the disclosure. The disclosure is not restricted tothe particular examples or implementations described as such. Theappearance of the phrases “in one example,” “in an example,” “in oneimplementation,” or “in an implementation,” or variations of the same invarious places in the specification does not necessarily refer to thesame example or implementation. Any particular feature, structure,operation, or other characteristic described in this specification inrelation to one example or implementation may be combined with otherfeatures, structures, operations, or other characteristics described inrespect of any other example or implementation.

Use herein of the word “or” is intended to cover inclusive and exclusiveOR conditions. In other words, A or B or C includes any or all of thefollowing alternative combinations as appropriate for a particularusage: A alone; B alone; C alone; A and B only; A and C only; B and Conly; and A and B and C.

1. A computer-implemented method in which one or more processing devicesperform operations comprising: receiving, by a video conference providerfrom a reception room meeting device, a request for a meeting with aremote receptionist, the request comprising request data specifying alist of candidate remote receptionists and comprising an indication of apreference setting for the meeting; determining, by the video conferenceprovider, one or more qualified remote receptionists from the list ofcandidate remote receptionists; sending, by the video conferenceprovider, a meeting request to a device associated with a firstqualified remote receptionist that is available for the meeting; andestablishing, by the video conference provider and in response to thequalified remote receptionist accepting the meeting request, a videoconference between the reception room meeting device and the deviceassociated with the first qualified remote receptionist.
 2. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the indication of thepreference setting for the meeting comprises an indication generatedbased on a characteristic of a user triggering the request for themeeting, the characteristic comprising language used by the user,hearing impairment, or visual impairment of the user.
 3. A systemcomprising: a reception room meeting device configured for establishinga video conference with a device associated with a remote receptionistby sending, to a video conference provider, a meeting request for avideo meeting with one of a list of candidate remote receptionists inresponse to receiving an activation signal triggered by a visitor, themeeting request comprising request data specifying the list of candidateremote receptionists; and establishing the video meeting with a deviceassociated with a remote receptionist available to assist the visitorout of the list of candidate remote receptionists selected by the videoconference provider based on the meeting request; one or more inputdevices configured for obtaining data associated with the visitor; andone or more computing devices comprising one or more processors andnon-transitory computer-readable media communicatively coupled to theone or more processors and storing processor-executable instructionsthat, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or moreprocessors to: access the data associated with the visitor obtained bythe one or more input devices; determine a status of the visitor basedon the data associated with the visitor, the status of the visitorcomprising an authenticity status or a physical status; and transmit thestatus of the visitor to the device associated with the available remotereceptionist.
 4. The system of claim 3, wherein the request data furthercomprise an indication of a preferred language for the video meeting. 5.The system of claim 4, wherein the indication of a preferred languagefor the video meeting is generated based on audio data sampled by amicrophone or an input provided by the visitor.
 6. The system of claim5, wherein generating the indication of a preferred language based onaudio data sampled by the microphone comprises analyzing the audio datato detect a language used in the audio data or analyzing the audio datato detect a voice command in the audio data.
 7. The system of claim 3,wherein the one or more input devices comprise a scanner, a chip reader,a temperature sensor, or an image sensor.
 8. The system of claim 3,further comprises: one or more output devices configured for generatingdocuments for the visitor, wherein the one or more computing devices arefurther configured to, in response to receiving an instruction from thedevice associated with the remote receptionist, cause one of the outputdevices to generate a document for the visitor.
 9. The system of claim8, wherein the one or more output devices comprise a badge printer, aparking ticket printer, or a general printer.
 10. The system of claim 3,wherein the one or more computing devices are further configured to:determine a room status of a room the visitor is scheduled to visit; andtransmit the room status to the device associated with the remotereceptionist.
 11. The system of claim 3, further comprising a display,wherein the one or more computing devices are further configured to:receive a command from the device associated with the remotereceptionist; and cause digital content to be presented on the displaybased on the command.
 12. The system of claim 11, wherein the display isintegrated into the reception room meeting device.
 13. A systemcomprising: a reception room meeting device configured for establishinga video conference with a device associated with a remote receptionistby sending a request for a video meeting with one of a list of candidateremote receptionists in response to receiving an activation signaltriggered by a visitor, the request comprising request data specifyingthe list of candidate remote receptionists; and establishing the videomeeting with a device associated with a remote receptionist on the listof candidate remote receptionists selected based on the request; one ormore computing devices comprising one or more processors andnon-transitory computer-readable media communicatively coupled to theone or more processors and storing processor-executable instructionsthat, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or moreprocessors to perform operations comprising: receiving, from thereception room meeting device among a plurality of reception roommeeting devices, the request for the video meeting; determining aqualified remote receptionist from the list of candidate remotereceptionists; and causing a video meeting between the reception roommeeting device and a device associated with the qualified remotereceptionist to be initiated by sending, to a video conference provider,a meeting request for the video meeting.
 14. The system of claim 13,wherein the plurality of reception room meeting devices are located inrespective geographical locations, and wherein a number of the pluralityof reception room meeting devices is greater than a number of the listof candidate remote receptionists.
 15. The system of claim 14, whereinthe request data associated with the request from the reception roommeeting device comprises an indication of a preferred language for thevideo meeting, and wherein determining the qualified remote receptionistfurther comprises selecting the qualified remote receptionist who speaksthe preferred language.
 16. The system of claim 15, wherein theindication of a preferred language for the video meeting is generatedbased on audio data sampled by a microphone of the reception roommeeting device or an input provided by a visitor in an area where thereception room meeting device is located.
 17. The system of claim 13,wherein the reception room meeting device generates the request inresponse to receiving a signal triggered by a visitor in an area wherethe reception room meeting device is located.
 18. The system of claim17, wherein the operations further comprise accessing data associatedwith the visitor that is obtained by input devices located in the area;determining a status of the visitor based on the data associated withthe visitor; and transmit the status of the visitor to the deviceassociated with the remote receptionist, prior to sending the meetingrequest for the video meeting to the video conference provider.
 19. Thesystem of claim 13, wherein the operations further comprise: receive acommand from the device associated with the remote receptionist; andcause one or more devices at a geographical location of the receptionroom meeting device to be activated based on the command.
 20. The systemof claim 19, causing one or more devices at a geographical location ofthe reception room meeting device to be activated based on the commandcomprises one or more of: causing an output device to generate adocument for the visitor; causing digital content to be presented on adisplay device based on the command; or causing a device associated witha host of the visitor to display a message indicating an arrival of thevisitor.